PALO ALTO, CALIF. - A neck-and-neck battle between No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 USC stretched all the way into sudden-death overtime, with the host Cardinal getting the late goal to win it 10-9 and claim the Stanford Invitational championship. Kristen Dronberger led all scorers with four goals for the Women of Troy, who go to 3-1 overall with the loss. The clash with the Cardinal was a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Championship game, which USC won in a 10-9 victory in regulation last year.

In today's title match, USC and Stanford were in stride through the first half of play. Locked up 3-3 at halftime, the Cardinal took a step ahead in the third to lead 6-4 entering the fourth period of play. There, the Trojans staged a rally to tie it up 6-6. Stanford would go back ahead 7-6 with 2:10 to go, but Dronberger got things even again with a strike with 1:17 on the clock. That tie would hold through the end of regulation to bring up overtime action.

Again, Stanford jumped ahead, and again, USC fought back to even it up. Madeline Rosenthal scored with 22 second left in the first overtime, only to have Stanford get up again with a late strike from the perimeter for a 9-8 lead entering the second overtime period. Rosenthal would provide heroics again for USC in that next stretch, scoring again to force sudden death.

The first 3-minute span of sudden death passed scorelessly, as did much of the second. But after Stanford took control of the ball with around 25 seconds remaining, the Cardinal was able to get deep and in position for a close-range strike that made it through to stop the game as a 10-9 Stanford victory.

USC's next competition bring the Trojans back home for their home opener in a 3 p.m. clash with Cal Baptist on Saturday (Feb. 18) at McDonald's Swim Stadium.